Losing a credit card can be a harrowing experience. Losing several credit cards is worse. Having a wallet full of many credit cards stolen is a nightmare. Once one or more credit cards are lost or stolen, the owner of the cards must begin the process of notifying the credit card companies in order to cancel the various accounts. In the case of a theft, the credit-card owner is typically in a race against time to prevent fraudulent purchases from being charged against the stolen credit cards. Consequently, the owner must not only notify the credit company of the loss but must do so as soon as possible.
Typically, in order to notify a credit card company of a lost or stolen credit card and to therefore cancel or freeze the corresponding account to prevent potential fraudulent purchases, the owner must call the credit card company directly. Upon calling, the process entails the owner satisfying numerous identity and account verifications, which can be difficult, especially if the owner does not know the credit card account number. For example, upon calling the credit card company, the owner may have to recite some or all of the owner's social security number, address, zip code, mother's maiden name, etc. in order to satisfy the identification requirement. Assuming the owner is able to remember the necessary information, which may be difficult for some people, the owner then requests cancellation of the lost card and typically a replacement card, i.e., a new account number with the previous account transferred to the new account.
Unfortunately however, this notification process suffers some significant drawbacks. For instance, most credit card owners have not memorized the phone numbers for their credit card companies and must therefore search for the numbers. This information is typically located on the credit cards themselves, which is worthless once the cards are lost or stolen. The contact information may also be located in the person's home, which is only helpful if (a) the owner is at home and (b) the owner remembers the location of the information. Regrettably, the owner is often on vacation or otherwise far from their home when the card or cards are discovered missing. Consequently, the owner has a difficult task of rushing home, finding the information for all the different cards, and then making the proper phone calls.
Moreover, once the calls are placed, the credit card companies typically take a significant amount of time in handling the matter, placing the owner on hold or making them select many different options from the automated telephone systems. These time delays are more than an inconvenience as a thief may be charging against the account during this time.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.